1) Road rage on bicycles is a real thing.
In fact the way I approach cycling now has completely changed. No bike? Disastrous. How am I supposed to get to class, to gym, to my friends? Take the train? Walk? A silly suggestion. Having a bike in such a small city has given me so much freedom. However, I only came to realise how adapted I had become to cycling but just in Copenhagen, after realising how helpless we became when visiting Malmö, where there aren't any bike lanes. And brakes? No need, chances are you have the steadfast Danish wind blowing in the opposite direction to you, so just stop pedalling and you'll come to a halt pretty fast with its help.
2) No matter what the weather, always bring a rain jacket.
I don't care if it's 25°C and sunny, you're always going to want to have rain jacket or umbrella on you. I have seen the weather change here unbelievably fast and it's not something you really want to get caught in if you've got a 20 min bike ride home ahead.
3) Coffee is eyewateringy expensive.
And honestly not really even that good. Most espressos here would cost you around 28kr, which is roughly about $6. Having seen espressos for one euro in Naples, it's a very difficult thing to wrap your head around. You want a cappuccino? Be prepared to pay up to $10. I can't remember the last time I bought coffee here as I tend to just brew my own in my moka pot for much much cheaper. Or, alternatively, the university canteen will sell you a mug of filter coffee for $1.50. I've also found that my accent makes me enough of a believable tourist as to get free tester lattes from Nespresso.
4) Hygge is real.
And amazing. The local cafe here called Mokkariet in Nørrebro is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen, with wifi. The dim lighting and stone walls along with the smell of coffee make it the best place to study. There's candles for sale everywhere, paired with fluffy blankets and hot drinks. I used to think it was more of a myth created by people who wanted to sell the Scandinavian lifestyle.
5) Saunas aren't a thing here.
This really broke my heart. The Danes just aren't into saunas as much as the rest of Scandinavia and this was actually something I was really looking forward to. However, I've realised that at the local sports centre they actually do have a small sauna (the first I've seen so far) and so I'm really excited to get some good use out of it during the winter, which is now approaching fast.
And now a little bit of an update on my life so far as I know it's been about a week since I wrote last. Over the weekend I volunteered with Food Sharing Copenhagen to pick up the leftover bread from a bakery in Østebro and deliver it the next day to the hall where they were going to be handing it out. I've been studying/doing a lot of uni work as I have a research paper analysis I have to present in a few weeks with a friend from class, Cecilie, titled "Serotonin spillover onto the axon initial segment of motoneurons induces central fatigue by inhibiting action potential initiation". The paper was actually partially written by the professor who teaches the subject so I'm a little nervous on whether he'll be bias or not in marking us.
I also went to the International Church on Sunday which is kind of like a combination of different branches of Christianity but the service is in English, which was nice. I had dinner with Sigrid on Monday (my 'Science Program Buddy') where we had dahl with homemade naan (my first try, which wasn't too bad). Shalini and Chiara came back from their respective trips last night so we had a catch up bring this morning for Shalini's birthday. I've got class tomorrow from 8am until 12pm, and Moritz has just arrived in Copenhagen so I'll probably be seeing him them and later going to a picnic I think? I'm still doing a lot of gym classes (currently 4 a week) which is pretty intense, and then I'm volunteering again for food sharing on Saturday. Just trying to keep myself busy! Jamie gets here next Friday so we've got a lot planned for that week.
Here's some photos from the past few weeks.
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